The Gaucho Record
UC Santa Barbara enters this weekend's matches with a record of 2-4-3. The Gauchos posted a tie in their last home match, Sept. 15 against Arizona State, to extend their unbeaten streak to two in a row. A pair of road losses last weekend, however, have turned that modest unbeaten string into a modest three match winless run. Last weekend, UCSB lost at Davidson by a score of 1-0 and at Central Florida by a 2-1 count. This weekend's matches against Gonzaga and UC Davis will mark the end of non-conference play for the Gauchos. Big West games begin next week.

UCSB-UC Irvine Match Moved To 1:00 P.M.
UCSB's Oct. 8 Big West home match against UC Irvine, originally scheduled for 5:00 p.m., has been moved to 1:00 p.m. by the league.

This Week
UCSB will split home and road matches this weekend. On Friday, Sept. 29, the Gauchos will host Gonzaga. The Bulldogs, who were nationally ranked entering the season, will enter Harder Stadium with a 5-4-1 record. UCSB and Gonzaga have not previously played. The Gauchos and UC Davis have played six times with Santa Barbara holding a 5-1-0 mark. UCSB, which defeated the Aggies 2-1 last season, has scored 16 goals in the series, UCD has scored five. The Aggies' lone win came at Davis during the 2004 season.

On The StumpfPaul Stumpf is in his eighth season as the head coach at UC Santa Barbara. He enters this week's action with a record of 76-56-14. His total of 76 wins ranks second on UCSB's all-time list. Prior to last season, he had led the Gauchos to four consecutive seasons of double-figures in wins, the first time the program had accomplished the feat since 1988-91. Last season, he guided a young and injury-riddled UCSB team to a 9-10-0 record. Prior to the 2005 campaign, Stumpf had coached the Gauchos to five straight seasons of .500 or better, a feat that had last been accomplished more than a decade ago. In 1999, Stumpf's first season as the head coach at UCSB, he took a team that was selected to finish last in the conference, but instead posted an 8-9-1 overall record and a 5-4 mark in the Big West. Following the season, he was chosen as the Big West's Coach of the Year. Before arriving in Santa Barbara as an assistant coach in 1998, Stumpf spent two seasons as an assistant at Humboldt State. In addition, the San Diego native spent several years coaching club teams in the Santa Rosa area.

Gauchos Hope To Overcome Offensive Woes
UCSB is having its troubles at the offensive end of the field. The Gauchos have scored nine goals in nine matches and it doesn't take a mathematician to tell you they are averaging exactly one goal per match. Five of UCSB's goals came during a two-match span against Tulsa and Arizona State, but in the other seven matches the Gauchos scored four goals and were shutout four times. Last weekend, in matches at Davidson and Central Florida, Santa Barbara scored one goal, at UCF, and allowed three. Perhaps even more telling than the lack of goals has been the dearth of shots. When the Gauchos had 17 shots in their 2-2 overtime tie with Arizona State on Sept. 15, it looked as though they were ready to break-out offensively. In the losses at Davidson and UCF, however, UCSB had just 17 total shots, an average of 8.5 per match. On the season, the Gauchos have 95 shots, an average of 10.5 per match. They also have 53 shots on goal, 5.9 per outing.

Dueling With A Two-Shooter
Ideally, UCSB would be playing with a six-shooter, but that hasn`t been the case. The Gauchos are getting the major portion of their offensive production from two players. Senior forward Chandi Bickford and sophomore forward Genelle Ives have combined for six of the team's nine goals and five of the 11 assists. Last weekend, the Bickford-Ives duo hooked-up for Santa Barbara's only goal. Of their six goals, five have been assisted on by the other. Bickford, who suffered a knee injury and was limited to just seven matches in 2005, leads the Gauchos with four goals. She also has two assists for 10 points. Ives, who was the Big West Conference's co-Freshman of the Year in 2006 when she had six goals and six assists, has scored two goals this season and she leads the team with three assists. Finally, Ives and Bickford have 19 and 17 shots respectively, ranking 1-2 on the team.

Keeping Things Close
While the Gauchos have had their offensive troubles, the defense has been steady. While UCSB has scored just nine goals in nine matches, its defense has allowed just 10 goals in nine matches, an average of just more than one per contest. In all, the Gauchos have posted two shutouts this season and they have given-up one goal or less six times. In fact, in 2005, Santa Barbara allowed three or more goals five times, but through nine matches this season, the Gauchos have yet to allow more than two scores in any one match.

Big West Play On The Horizon
The matches against Gonzaga and UC Davis this weekend will essentially mark the end of non-conference play for the Gauchos. Big West play opens next weekend. UCSB will have one more non-league match (Oct. 26 against St. Mary's), but league play will become the focus from here on. The Gauchos will immediately have a tough task as they open the 2006 Big West schedule at home on Oct. 6 against Long Beach State, picked by the coaches to win the regular season crown.